Can You See Them
by VannuroRB
Summary: I don't have a lot of time left. I have to tell someone, anyone. Just to let my confession be heard.


Can You See Them~

On March the eighteenth, a woman gave birth to twins; two boys. Her husband and she were proud of the two crying babies they had been blessed with; waiting for the day they'd bring them home and teach, what they wanted to raise, honourable men.

I was named Atemu, my brother was named Yami, and our last names were Aten.

Our mother had to stay in hospital for a few days, the standard procedure for most mothers. It gave her a chance to learn how to take care of us and to gain a bond with us, our birth wasn't different to the normal births in the hospital, and after a couple of days we were brought home.

Our parents did not wait to show us around to our neighbours and their friends, receiving all the compliments and tips people presented them when they saw us, as I said we were an average family.

Most of us were.

After a few weeks of our birth my parents got concerned over my twin brother, Yami. As I was told, all he did was cry. Though a baby was supposed to cry, Yami's crying was unusual. They fed him, comforted him, did everything and he would not stop crying. A baby would only cry if it wanted something, but Yami's tears were something else, even I did not cry as much as he did as a baby.

My parents took us to the doctors after their concern grew unbearable—they took me just in case I had the same thing, whatever it was, that Yami had—however the doctor could not find anything physically wrong with Yami, and even after my mother frantically pleaded for a hospital appointment they could not find anything wrong with Yami, and they passed my parents off saying that a lot of first parents got nervous over their children. No matter how much they tried to show Yami was not well, no one would help them.

My parents tried everything to stop Yami's crying, even to the point of bringing his crib into their room in hope it would reveal something to them, but the only time Yami stopped crying was the few hours of sleep he got each night.

As the years went on we turned from babies to toddlers, and still Yami would not stop crying. I barely remember the trouble they had trying to teach him to walk and talk because of it, somehow they managed and at age six, Yami finally stopped crying which made my parents both relieved and worried. After his crying stopped he became silent, distant, different to how a normal child should be. My parents tried to coax Yami out of his silent state, but running out of ideas they took him and me to a child psychiatrist.

They both took tests on us—and by tests I mean they asked us questions about how we felt and how we acted, I answered all of the questions while Yami remained silent once more—I came out to be perfectly healthy, Yami on the other hand was diagnosed with either minor autism or a social disorder. Neither news was what my parents wanted to hear.

Since I was young I didn't understand a lot about Yami's problems, so my parents sat me down and tried to explain it to me, in a dumbed down version they told me that Yami was in a quiet place in his mind and that I had to be extra careful around him and look after him. Though it left a lot of my questions unanswered it gave my young mind the greatest opportunity of a lifetime; to be the older brother. I was the youngest with Yami being born first, though I didn't really know it I couldn't call myself an older or younger brother due to being a twin; however I had always loved the idea of being the older one, the one that Yami would look up to, the one that would protect him from bullies and other such nasties. As you could tell, I was all too eager to help Yami.

I tried to get Yami to play the games I was given over my birthdays, but he only stared at them with a blank pale face like always, but I was determined. Every day I would pull out different games for us to play, which ended up with me playing by myself as Yami would not co-operate. I dragged him outside and took him to the local park to play, but he would just stand on his own with the distant gaze in his eyes. It was tedious, and at times I wished I had made my own friends at school to go and play with, but I persisted to look after Yami to reap the benefits. After a few weeks I was sitting in the back garden with Yami as I told him what I had done that day at school, though me and Yami shared the same school, Yami had a qualified teacher to tend to his needs. I didn't even want to guess how well his lessons went. I was more or less talking to myself, barely able to hear what Yami even said.

"Atemu…?"

I fell silent and turned to my brother as his eyes stared down at the grass around his feet; his voice was so quiet and sounded unsure if he was right or not, doubting my identity altogether. I however smiled, knowing what I had accomplished I nodded my head to reassure him "Yep. I'm Atemu, your brother".

He gave a small hum at the fact and briefly looked up at me for the first time, we shared a short gaze until he turned to the grass again, once I was sure he was back to the way he had been I continued my rambling, hoping he would talk some more. I tried to tell my parents what I had got Yami to do, but they scolded me and told me not to lie, and when I tried to get Yami to talk again he did nothing to support me. It infuriated me, but I wasn't going to give up.

It took a while but Yami soon started to talk to me more regularly and after a couple of more years he had started talking to our parents, but he was still lacking in socializing, only speaking a few words or sentences if we were lucky. But if I thought that Yami being a mute was strange, it got worse when he did start talking, because of the things he spoke about. It was strangely unnerving, and I didn't understand what he was saying most of the time.

We had sat down for dinner—something that Yami was doing by himself for once— and I began tucking into the small meal before I noticed Yami wasn't eating. Though it was hard to tell, he looked sad for some reason, perhaps it was just him being there that told me what he was feeling. However after my father finished talking about something only adults speak of, Yami lifted his head, his eyes lightly turning to our father before he spoke.

"Dad…what does…'rape' mean?" He asked.

Both my parents seemed to stare at horror at each other while I continued eating, a little curious myself at their reaction and what it meant. While they sat dumbstruck for a few moments my father cleared his throat, something he always did when conversations got too awkward for him to talk about, he then turned to Yami with a small smile.

"Yami…where did you hear something like that?" He queried curiously.

"A girl told me" Yami answered.

"A…girl?" He repeated glancing to mother with slight suspicion "What girl?"

"The girl in our bedroom…"

Our parents shared the same shocked expression before my father stood from the table and made his way to our bedroom to investigate, my mother continued to question Yami.

"What did she tell you Yami?" Mother queried.

Yami's eyes fell to the table instead and I could feel the sadness coming off him again "She said…there was a man…who she trusted and…he raped her but…I didn't know what it meant…so I can't sympathise with her…"

She opened her mouth to say something else but our father came down the stairs giving a small shake of his head, she let out a relieved sigh as he sat back down and turned to Yami with a small frown "Yami, you shouldn't make up things like that".

Yami only seemed to stare intensely at the food in front of him before giving a small hum and finally began to eat the meal, and the evening returned to normal as it should have been, Yami didn't speak another word while my parents were awake. I awoke later on in the night with a yawn to find Yami's bed empty, confused and not wanting to get into trouble I slipped out of my bed and sought after Yami, he hadn't gone far for as soon as I went downstairs I found him on my father's computer in the darkness. I approached with wincing eyes, I could never stand TV screens or computer screens without light, but I didn't want to turn the lights on to alert our parents. I walked over to him and touched his shoulder to gain his attention.

"Yami…what are you doing?" I queried as I rubbed my eyes "You know dad doesn't like you being on the computer".

"I'm just…looking for something…" Yami explained as he clicked the mouse button and read something, he then gave a small hum as he found something "I see…sad…"

"What are you looking up?" I asked as I tried to stare at the screen, but to no avail, I couldn't make out the words.

"Something…" Yami said vaguely before he clicked off the page and turned the computer off "I'll come to bed now…"

I watched Yami hop off the seat before walking with me through the darkness; we crept up the stairs so we didn't wake our parents and returned to our beds, as I was about to lie down I glanced over to Yami, noticing him still sat up and staring at the foot of his bed with his sunken eyes yet again.

"Don't do things Yami" I warned, gaining a small portion of his attention "You'll upset mum and dad".

Yami didn't acknowledge the warning so with a sigh I laid back down, hoping I would get some sleep, not knowing what was going to happen next.

A few weeks later, Yami had disappeared.

My parents were distraught and could only think that the worse had happened; that he had been kidnapped. But no matter what I was forced to continue my daily life routine, with the reassurance that Yami would be home soon, but even I could tell that this was serious and I found myself distracted with the thoughts of where Yami was.

A few days later as I walked home from school I happened to idly glance to the alley, seeing a pair of sneakers sticking out. I had happened to thought that they looked familiar before I stopped, I turned back to see Yami leaning against the wall, hugging his knees tight with his distant look in his eyes directed towards the pavement.

I ran back to him and fell to his side, shaking his shoulder desperately "Yami!? Yami, where have you been?!"

Yami slowly lifted his head up to meet my gaze, whispering only "I'm hungry…"

I gave a frown at the simple comment, but I was too relieved to see my brother safe and unharmed, I stood up and grabbed his arm to pull him up on his feet and began to drag him down the street to home "Come on, mum and dad are worried".

As soon as I brought him home my mother burst into tears and hugged Yami tightly, pleading with him to tell her where he had been, but Yami didn't say a word. He was so emotionless to the state he had driven our parents in, it annoyed me…greatly. However my parents didn't seem to mind and continued to tend over him, I was praised for finding him and was given a present for what I had done, little knowing that this was going to become a regular event.

Yami disappeared routinely, about once every month or so. He just disappeared. Without a sound, and without a trace, no one would see him again until a few days later where I'd either stumble across him or the police would find him, and then the same repeated the next month. After a while, the police didn't care and decided he hadn't been "Kidnapped" but rather had "Ran away". They were more or less right after all, Yami refused to tell anyone where he had been and acted like nothing had happened, it angered my parents to the point where they began grounding him for running away. But it never sunk in.

At first I too was worried each time Yami disappeared, but after a while I grew angry at his apathetic nature towards our worry, it opened my eyes a little at how I had been as a child. I had taken so much time in looking after Yami I barely passed through my schoolwork, I didn't have any friends and was rarely social with anyone who wasn't a family member, and the way he repaid me was to disappear and distress our family? I gave up. Why should I look after him, when I got nothing out of my brother? So…I abandoned him.

I left Yami to wallow in whatever had occupied his mind for all these years, while I tried to be more assertive towards my classmates. It was awkward, I could barely remember their names while they knew mine off the top of their heads, I had to work hard from scratch thanks to my brother. Unfortunately as I tried to make friends with everyone, I couldn't really connect well to them, they were into things I hadn't heard of and I was left as an outsider again. At ten years old I made my first friend, Yugi.

Yugi was much like me, an outcast from the rest of our classmates, though his reasons were due to shyness. He was kind and caring, and on more than one occasion, he often apologised for things he had not done. He had an abundance of games much like me and we found ourselves playing with them for hours on end, I couldn't have asked for a better friend, he understood me and made me feel like I deserved to be his friend. He stayed my friend for half a year; I invited him over for my eleventh birthday, and he never came. My parents received a call later on that night, telling me that Yugi had been hit by a car and died.

I never made another friend again.

After Yugi left me, I just preferred to be alone, as I felt I could deal with more pain being away from everyone else; my parents, my teachers, even Yami felt more abandonment then he deserved. I became an empty shell, and though I wasn't as distant as Yami was, I had become, more or less, him.

We soon entered high school and Yami hadn't changed much, he disappeared just like always for a few days and he hardly talked to anyone, I had tried talking to our classmates, but the passion to want to make friends just vanished and they simply knew me as "that guy with the strange brother". At sixteen I was stuck deep into my studies to try and drown out the real world, attached to my brother's leash once more as I—for some reason—looked out for him again.

It was a hot day in summer and I wished I was one of the lucky students sat by the open windows, glaring lightly at the only person I knew by the window which was my brother, I gave a flustered sigh and pulled at my shirt collar when I felt a few sweat drops run down the back of my neck. Aside from sensitive eyes to screens, I hated the heat, especially when there was no way to cool yourself down in the middle of class. I tried to distract myself by picking up my pen, spinning it idly in my hand as I checked over the notes I made, it was just the basic facts that most of the people did, I seemed to had stopped as I let my heated brain wonder into memory land. The teacher was lecturing us about complex equations, lightly pointing to the chalkboard at the diagrams she had made; she had captured our attention tightly until…

"NOOOO!"

Everyone jumped in their seats and turned to Yami, his hands were clasped over his ears as tears ran down his face, he was visibly shaking in his seat as the teacher approached him worriedly. She tried to talk to Yami to calm him down, but Yami only sobbed louder and continued to say such things as "No!" or "Stop it!" as if something was hurting him, or otherwise. All the students watched in both fear and curiosity including me, I had never seen Yami burst out before like this, I thought he had stopped bursting out as a child, but I was mistaken.

As the teacher tried to calm Yami down one of my seated neighbours turned to me, and in a low voice whispered "He's your brother, can't you do something?"

I just stared back at him, not knowing the answer myself as I turned back to watch the teacher raise Yami to his feet, guiding him to the door and presumably to the nurses office as she gave us some final words to behave. Once the door slid shut the class broke into suspicious whispers about Yami, I pretended that I was finishing off some notes on the board so that I wouldn't get dragged into the gossip, pretending that my brother didn't exist once again.

The teacher returned a few minutes later and class resumed as normal but with the absence of Yami, I tried to keep my focus back onto the work in front of my face, but every so often my eyes glanced over to the empty seat wondering about my brother's fate.

Once the bell rang for lunch my first priority was to check up on my brother, I had to, no one else would. I passed everyone down the school corridor until I stood at the nurses' office; giving a small tap on the door I slid it open and gave the courteous bow to the young nurse we had before shutting the door behind me, she quickly finished up the small meal she had packed before rising from her chair to stand at full height.

"How's my brother doing?" I queried looking behind her at the empty beds; only one of them had the rail curtain pulled around it.

"Ah, he's fine now. He's just resting" She replied before her expression changed, the once nice smile turned to a sad and concerned face, I didn't dare think what she was turning in her mind "Mr. Aten…can I ask you a few personal questions?"

At the serious tone I could feel dread running through me, but I managed to say "Yes".

She briefly looked to the hidden bed before guiding me to the corner so we were more close together and in privacy from Yami "This…might be a little uneasy for you to talk about I understand" She whispered in a low voice "But…has your brother ever considered…suicide?"

I felt my throat clamping at the sound of the word. Yami and suicide did not fit, at all. I managed to shake my head as an answer to her question however "He hasn't…hurt himself or anything of the sort?"

"N-No…never…"

"Ah, I see. I'm sorry to have worried you then" She gave a small relieved smile before trying to plaster the reassuring smile she usually had back on "That's all I wanted to know".

But I wanted to know more. I gazed up at her and asked "Why…did you ask me that?"

"It's just…your brother had asked me if anyone…killed themselves before in this school…" Her eyes lightly turned to the wall and her hands hugged her arms as she disappeared in thought "I thought…he might have wanted to copy their way of death…sometimes people do that…I guess I presumed…"

I gave a glance to where I knew the bed was before asking "Can I see him?"

"Oh sure, he should be ready to go back to class after lunch" The nurse assured as she returned to her meal at the desk "Just try not to upset him again".

"I won't".

Once the nurse had resumed her eating I slipped past the other beds until I came to Yami's, I swallowed a hard lump in my throat before I gently peeled open the curtains so I could slip into the secluded area. Yami was lying in the bed, his empty eyes staring at the curtain where the light filtered through from the window, I wondered if he had known I was standing at the foot of the bed at all.

"How are you feeling?" I asked quietly.

Yami's pause came from him until he sighed and turned his head to look at me "I'm…fine" He answered.

At the light comment I gave a small 'tch' "No Yami, you're not fine" I snapped back, moving round so I stood by his side "You were screaming in class, and then the nurse told me you were asking about suicide? What the hell?"

Yami lifted his eyes to me and tilted his head as if I were missing something, not understanding his actions "I just…asked if there had been any suicides…" He explained slowly, his eyes growing sadder with each word he spoke "I was…curious is all…"

I heaved a sigh and shook my head "Just…just don't do anything weird again okay? Mum will be upset and dad will be pissed".

He only replied with a hum and rested back into the overly inflated pillows, he closed his eyes before saying "I'll come back to class…after lunch…"

"Yeah, okay I'll see you then" I gave one last frown to my brother before I pulled apart the curtain to leave him to recover—I use that word very lightly—from his outburst.

The rest of the school day was just like any other day, there was the obvious buzz from the other students about Yami's outburst and many of them had tried to coax out his reasons during class, but Yami remained silent about it and life went on like it had never happened. I could only pretend it never happened, my brain had sealed in every strange behaviour Yami had committed over his lifetime, like it was trying figure out the clue to some case, this moment was going to join the others in the collection.

At the end of the day I walked with Yami back to our home, there was silence apart from the cars going down the street and the odd passing people, I glanced to Yami on occasions to see his head hung so he stared down at the pavement below us just like usual.

"Will…you tell mum…?" Yami queried quietly.

"No" I answered as I stopped at the street to make sure the cars passed us "The nurse will probably call anyway".

Yami gave a hum but began following me again as we returned home. Since both our parents worked we had a few hours after school with us being alone, it wasn't a dream having to spend time with Yami, but I considered myself lucky nonetheless to have no parents to watch over us for a few hours. I fished out my key for the front door and let us in, as I slipped off my shoes at the door Yami did the same but proceeded to go upstairs, I watched him almost float up the stairs before I gave a frown.

"Make sure you do your homework Yami" I reminded him, knowing if I didn't say anything he would take the opportunity to forget.

Yami stopped on the last step and gave a small nod before disappearing to our room altogether, I gave a sigh but left him to do his homework in peace and sat down in front of the TV in the living room, the only disadvantage of sharing a room was the lack of studying I could do with Yami being in the room.

An hour had passed and I had somewhat amused myself with watching the shows I flicked through on TV, I glanced up at the clock with a sigh knowing my mother would return home in another hour, I had barely started on my own homework and I knew if my mother would see it I wouldn't hear the end of it. I flicked the TV off and proceeded up the stairs to our room, hoping that Yami wouldn't be using the books I needed as well.

As I opened the door I peeked in to see Yami sitting at our desk, he wrote away like normal and didn't seem to notice me at the door, the book I wanted was sitting next to Yami on the desk. I gave a small sigh but walked in and over to the desk, lightly holding the book and looked over Yami's shoulder at his work.

"Hey, can I borrow this?" I asked getting a nod from my brother "Thanks".

I took the book from the desk and walked back to the door, but I had barely touched the handle before Yami spoke quietly "Atemu…?" I looked back at Yami who was still writing away "Do you remember…when I talked…about the girl…?"

"You've talked about a lot of girls" I recalled as I turned to face him again and I crossed my arms "You'll have to be more specific".

"When we were kids…the girl…who had been raped…"

I felt an uneasy tense through my body at the memory of that, at the time I was a child and didn't understand the serious nature of the story Yami had told, but as I grew older and became more aware of the horrors of the world I had realised why my parents took it so seriously. I didn't want to know how my brother—who was the same age as me at the time—knew or could make up a story like that; I had tried to stop him from saying such things again.

"Yes" I said bluntly, expecting the worse.

"Did I say…how old she was?" Yami queried taking a brief moment to sigh "She was…sixteen, just like us…but…I met a girl…who's younger…she was…only seven…she couldn't fight back…doesn't that make you sad…?"

"Stop it" I growled. Yami turned around in the seat to stare at me, meeting with my own glare that I barely realised I had "Just…stop it with these…stories! I don't want to hear them".

Yami stared at me with dull confused eyes before saying "Stories…? Don't you…believe me…?"

"No! And I don't want to hear this ever again, do you understand!?" I grabbed the door handle and tore the door open as I walked out "Why couldn't you be normal?! Sometimes I wish you never come back!"

I shut the door behind me and returned back to the sofa in the living room, I'm not sure what caused me to burst out like that and I knew it was wrong to as well, I guessed I had just had enough of Yami and I gave up.

Yami had stayed in our room for the rest of the time, and likewise I stayed down in the living room as well, I couldn't face him again after what I had done and I was glad when I heard the front door open when my mother arrived home. I briefly looked up as she took off her coat and shoes before returning to my homework, realising that the work I had written was complete gibberish, so I had to redo it again.

"Hey Atemu" My mother greeted as she brushed back her hair "Where's Yami?"

"Upstairs" I replied as I gave a sigh.

"I got a call from the nurse. Is he alright?"

"Yeah…"

My mother gave me a curious look before turning to walk away "Well okay, how's your homework going?"

"Fine" I called back before looking to the book, I wondered if Yami was still doing his homework or if I had upset him enough to put him off his work, I knew that Yami would tell our parents if he felt intimidated by my behaviour and they were always harder on me for punishments. As much as I hated the thought of it, I had to apologise to Yami "I'll go and see Yami" I called back as I picked up the book to use as an excuse "He probably needs this…"

"Okay honey" Mum replied from the kitchen.

I inhaled a deep breath as I moved upstairs to the dimly lit landing, I came to our bedroom door and lightly knocked on it expecting Yami to open it, but I was only greeted with silence. I gave a frown and put my ear to the door, but only more silence greeted me from within.

"Oh no…" I opened the door and looked inside, but our room was empty. The desk that Yami had once sat at only had his homework laid sprawled out half-finished, and his school bag had disappeared as well.

"Not again" I groaned and hurried downstairs to tell our mother of his disappearance once again.

Yami disappeared for a few days just like routine, however I felt uncomfortable about this disappearance, like it wasn't normal or just simply 'routine'. Perhaps it was partly because of my own guilt convincing me it was my fault he had left, I had, after all, told him I wished he would never return. I tried to forget that idea, reassuring myself that Yami wouldn't be so childish as to run away over a petty argument, yet still my guilt came up to eat me away. It turned out to be a good thing.

On the fifth day of Yami's disappearance I had woken up early in my bed, it was still dark but I could make out the sounds of birds singing to each other and I knew the sun would rise in an hour or two; I gave a sigh and glanced over to my brothers' empty bed, wondering where on this earth Yami had gone to. My mind churned over all the possibilities of Yami's disappearance, some of them unpleasing than the others which only fuelled my worry for his safety. I couldn't take it, the police would probably find me on the streets and wake my parents up, but I had to at least try and look for Yami, I couldn't sit and wait like I had done before.

I got up from my bed making sure to be quiet so my parents didn't wake up; I pulled out the first set of clothes my hands could grasp in the darkness and switched out of my sleepwear to the clothes, I took up my jacket from the end of the bed and slipped it on as I left my bedroom, skimming over the steps as I came to the front door and kicked my shoes on. Before I left I grabbed my spare keys and shut the door behind me, locking it as well so nothing was suspicious to my parents before my hunt for Yami began.

I must have wondered through every street in the town and still there was no sign of Yami for me, the sun had begun to rise up turning the murky black sky to a softer sleepier glow, even I was becoming tired from my early awakening and with no luck in finding Yami I was physically and mentally exhausted.

I happened to pass the park on my route home; maybe it was my instincts that lead me down that road, if it was it was right. I lifted my head and spotted someone standing in front of the memorial statue in the park, wearing the same school uniform that I wore, at sight I felt my chest ease up and my feet began running over to my brother.  
"Yami!" Yami tore his attention away from the statue and turned to me, I panted lightly and after my relief washed through my system I frowned at him "Where the hell have you been?!"

Yami stared back at me with a blank face, giving a small hum he looked back up at the statue, ignoring my question altogether. I glared at him for his uncaring nature and I grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to look my way again.

"This isn't a joke Yami!" I bellowed at him "I was worried about you this time!"

He was silent for a few moments before voicing "But…I thought…you didn't want me to return…"

My body tensed at his words as he waited for my response, but I couldn't give him one. I knew my instincts were tied with guilt, and I dreaded to think what Yami would have done if I had not found him, and it would have been my fault. I wanted to apologise but I couldn't find the words inside me, instead I just sucked a deep breath and grabbed his wrist, forcing him to walk behind me as I led him out of the park and down the road to home.

"Let's just go" Was all I muttered and kept my fingers tight around his wrist.

Again, silence passed between us and when I was sure that Yami would not run away from me, I let go of his wrist so that he could walk on his own. An unsettling nausea grew in the pit of my stomach as I wondered what Yami was thinking, how he felt when I said those heated words to him. It only made me want to apologise more but my throat clamped up, I had become the mute one out the two of us this time.

"Atemu…" Yami whispered, his voice sounded more like when he was eight, young and unsure of what to say "Do you…know why I…screamed in class…?"

I forced myself to sigh and ease up my neck, allowing me to breathe out "No".

"There was…a girl…" He explained quietly behind me "She told me…her sister had committed suicide…I told her I was sad for her but…I couldn't understand her situation" Yami seemed to shiver as I heard his breath grow shaken "So she said…imagine if my brother…killed himself…and I did. I imagined…what would happen if I drove you to suicide and…it hurt. It made me want to tear myself apart…and scream…it was…horrible…I don't want to ever…make you feel like that Atemu…"

I stopped walking causing Yami to stop behind me and watch me, I just stared, much like Yami did, at the sidewalk beneath my feet. I repeated Yami's words through my head, my body going numb as I dissected each letter apart.

Yami hadn't expressed any emotion before aside from the outbursts he had, and yet here he was pleading with me to forgive him, I wasn't sure how to feel about it; happy presumably, but that was not sufficient enough to describe my feelings. I just felt…empty. Like I had been clean of any emotion and thoughts I held and given a new life, and just by the simple fact that my brother had truly cared about me, such a simple but powerful relief.

"Atemu…?"

I turned to my brother and pulled him into my arms, hugging him tightly to my body as I pressed my face into his neck, attempting to hide my tears forming in my eyes. I didn't know what Yami was thinking about my reaction, but all I knew was he didn't move as I hugged him and cried silently into his skin.

"I'm sorry Yami" I wept into his skin; I didn't even know if it was audible to him "I didn't mean to yell at you…I'm so sorry…"

Yami didn't say anything or hug me back, I just presumed he thought I had overreacted or something and was waiting for me to calm down, it suited me fine. I just kept Yami close until I felt comfortable with showing my tear stained face, Yami still said nothing and complied with walking back home with me, not mentioning about the moment again.

Of course when we returned home our parents had figured out I had gone out to search for Yami, and the usual routine of them grounding Yami and then praising me occurred, and life resumed back to normal. Or so I thought.

Yami had been grounded for four weeks, though my parents were more extreme in my punishments, they always believed that if they grounded him for long periods of time it would sink in. Needless to say it didn't. However Yami had requested if he could stay at home for a few days, away from school. After the incident at school my parents decided that it might be for the best and Yami had a few days off, I had to bring his homework back so my parents at least felt that he was not having it easy while he was grounded, that's when things got strange.

On the third day of Yami's absence from school I returned home again, giving a small sigh as I shifted my bag around on my back, it had gained extra weight that came to some bother to my back, but nothing damaging. I took out my keys and unlocked the front door looking around suspiciously; there was something off about my house. It was quiet, unusually quiet for having Yami in the house at least. I frowned at the interior of my house while I slipped out of my shoes, acting as if it were going to jump at me any minute; I walked around the lower half of my house to see if Yami was downstairs, but he was nowhere in sight. I glanced to the stairs and began to climb them, and with every step I took, I frowned as sounds became clearer to me.

Yami was talking to someone, the bedroom door was shut so I couldn't see who it was, but I could make out his distinct voice chatting away with someone. The idea he had someone over and disobeying my parents was unlikely, Yami didn't know anyone outside our family, and I don't think he was too friendly to invite the mailman in and chat with him all day either. I couldn't hear anyone chatting back, so I feared the worse that he was having a discussion with himself, and that was a stereotypical symptom of one's madness.

I approached our room quietly so I didn't alert Yami to my arrival, and once I was at my bedroom door I pressed my ear against it to see if I could pick up of any of Yami's conversation, to my surprise the first thing I heard was a soft chuckle—I hadn't heard Yami laugh at all.

"Really? So cute" He commented as he finished off his chuckle "Oh sure…I'll look for it. I think I've seen it around…I'm not one for playing games…but I'll make sure he'll play it…his favourite? You sure? Ah, okay then. He'll definitely play then".

I frowned as I continued to listen to his conversation, curiosity filling every inch of my body. Who was Yami talking to?—or, who was he thinking he was talking to—and who was he talking about? And something about games too. Though I tried to think of all the dark possibilities, nothing really made sense; I only had one option left, to look inside.

I sucked in a deep breath and slowly held the handle, turning it just as slow so I did not make any noise, once the door was open a crack I peeked through to look inside. Yami was sat at our desk and was apparently working on some homework, he wasn't looking at anyone in particular and was just staring down at his work in front of him, however another chuckle came from him.

"Yeah…I don't like school much…" He said as his head turned slightly, as if the person he was talking to was standing next to him "How about you? Ah…you liked school? I guess it is fun when you're younger…"

He truly was talking to himself, I didn't want to think my brother had finally gone insane, but I didn't want to ignore him again and make things get worse. It had only been a few days ago that he said he didn't want to do anything to hurt me, and yet there he was, talking to himself. I didn't know what to do, what could I do? I now didn't know if my brother had the ability to attack me or not, and if he could, would I be able to fight back?

Something inside me pushed the door open wider so Yami would be able to see me, however my brother didn't notice me at the door and continued to write a bit more of work, I would be lying if I wasn't afraid to talk to my brother.

"Yami?"

Yami turned in the chair when he heard my voice; we shared a small glance before he turned back to the desk "School was good…?" He asked quietly as he resumed writing.

"Yami…who were you talking to?" I asked and took a step in.

"I got…stuck on a bit of Maths" Yami continued, ignoring my inquisition "I was…hoping you'd help".

"Yami, answer me" I demanded in a harsher tone.

Yami placed the pen down and slid his body around so he sat sideways on the chair; he looked up at me and simply replied "I wasn't talking to anyone…"

"But I heard you" I protested and walked closer to him "You were talking to someone, who were you talking to?"

"It must've been your imagination…" Yami then stood up and gave a small hum "I'm hungry…"

He then walked past me and down the stairs leaving me to stew my thoughts; it had to be a trick I thought, Yami was tricking me, pretending to talk to someone, it had to be. I didn't want my only brother to be insane; I couldn't accept that as a fact, it couldn't be reality to me. I glanced to the spot Yami had once talked to, still no one was there, so I backed out of our room and left it as that. I didn't bring the topic up again as I passed Yami on the stairs.

Again, Yami occupied our room while I had the living room just like normal, I switched the TV on in hope that something would drown out the memory of the past few minutes, however the dreary afternoon shows did little to please me. I had only spent a couple of minutes in front of the TV until I heard a rattle, I frowned and turned to see Yami standing by my side, placing a familiar box on the spare seat next to me.

"I found it in the cupboard…" Yami explained as I reached out to hold the dusty and broken box "It's your favourite…right? You should play it…"

I glanced up at my brother before back to the box design; it happened to be Mouse Trap, a game I had played too many times to count as a child, and as Yami had said it was my favourite game. Though its once bright and vivid design had faded with age, and where it had been stashed in the cupboard it had gathered an unpleasing layer of dust and the sides had been ripped a little, it still seemed all the pieces were still secure in the box.

I rose my eyes to my brother again "Maybe…maybe I will. Thanks".

Yami gave a small nod "You should relax more…you're…tense…"

I watched my brother walk out and when I heard the gentle shut of our bedroom door I turned back to the game, I made sure to peel the lid away carefully so it didn't tear or disintegrate in my hands, sure enough all the pieces were still sitting in their designated area and nothing had been touched or tampered with. It seemed all too coincidental that my brother had been talking to someone about a game, and just happened to give me my favourite board game as a child, despite my wariness I turned the TV off and headed to the kitchen to set up the game.

I managed to get the game set up which inspired my memories of when I was a child; however it didn't amuse me for long. Playing a game that was meant to have other players wasn't very exciting; it led me to wonder how I managed to play it alone as a child, I just presumed I had a very strong imagination, something I had lost in my teen years. I only lasted a few minutes before I soon grew tired of the lonesome playing, I could have asked Yami if he wanted to join, but I doubted that he changed his mind about games and wanted to play with me.

I had moved a mouse onto the death square—something most people referred to as the "Cheese wheel space"—before I gave a sigh and glanced around the kitchen, it was nice to have a little nostalgia back, but it wasn't fun without a partner. I stretched my arms lightly before standing up from the table and turning to the cupboards, searching for any comfort food to reclaim my interest in the game.

As soon as I opened the top cupboards I frowned as I heard a cranking noise, soon followed by a plopping. I turned to the game to see the crank had been turned and the ball was making its way around the course, apparently done by itself. I moved cautiously closer as I watched the small silver ball twist and turn and drop until it came to the net, it grinded against the small pole unhappily until it hit the board, trapping the small mouse within. I was confused. I held the handle in my hand and turned it a couple of times to make sure it wasn't loose, but it felt stable enough, so it couldn't have accidently turned itself. And that's when I noticed it.

On the edge of the table was a small fading handprint, almost as if someone had placed their hot hand against the glass of a cold window. It had disappeared by the time I reached for it, but I was sure it wasn't my own handprint. For one thing it was far too small then mine, and another thing my hand wasn't even abnormally high in temperature to leave a print like that behind, it shook me and I felt that I wasn't alone with Yami in the house anymore.

It wasn't the only sign.

I packed the game away before mother returned home, not wanting another incident again and I still had little interest with only one player, though I did leave the box out just in case I got the offer. I didn't tell my mother or father about what happened with the game, or about Yami, I pretended neither of the events happened.

It was when I was asleep at night, or at least trying to. My mind was still boiling over the events of the afternoon, debating if sleeping in the same room as my brother was the best idea I had, it kept me in a light sleep at least. And then I heard it.

"Atemu…"

The voice had whispered my name in my ear, and I say voice because it certainly wasn't Yami. It was young and weak in tone, perhaps scared even, but it was loud enough to wake me from my sleep and to realise it wasn't Yami speaking.

I sat up with a startled yelp, looking around my room frantically for an intruder, however I gave another startled yelp when I spotted Yami sitting up in bed just staring at me with his empty eyes.

"Jeez! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" I hissed at him, trying to calm myself down so I didn't look like a fool.

Yami didn't say anything and his expression slightly changed, his head turned away from me as if he were…disgraced with me. I didn't want to question him as I glanced at the clock, it was coming up to midnight and I had school again the next morning, it was far too late for me to scold my brother for doing something I had yet to realise he didn't do. With a disgruntled sigh I laid back down again, tugging my covers up to my chin to wrap myself in my bed, finally curling up in the comfort and attempting to sleep once again.

Yami returned to school the next day and much like always our teacher gave him the speech on how he could depend on the teaching staff at our school, Yami never really took it to heart and only hummed his way through the speech, and once again our lessons resumed as normal. Another month had been cleared; Yami had ran away, he returned and life resumed as normal. Everything had to go back to the way it was.

As I unlocked the door to our front house Yami walked in first and took off his shoes, but as I did the same Yami seemed to stare at the top of the stairs, almost in thought before he finally spoke.

"Atemu…you can have our room today" He offered finally turning to me "You have…homework right?"

"Huh? Oh sure…" I mumbled before frowning "What are you going to do?"

Yami hummed and glanced to the living room "There was…something I wanted to watch…"

I raised my brow at that statement. Yami wanting to watch something? It was impossible; through my life with him I had never known Yami to watch anything on TV, or to do with anything electrical—bar the one time he snuck on fathers' computer—however I did have a surplus of homework that needed to be completed thanks to Yami digging out the board game.

"Sure…enjoy I…suppose…" I said unsurely as I began to climb up the stairs. As I came to our bedroom I heard Yami turn the TV on and switch through the channels, so I knew he was genuine to his word, I silently closed the door and placed myself at the desk to begin some hard studying.

I must've spent half an hour at least in my room, frowning and scowling at my homework as I tried to do the best I could, all the while listening out for Yami in case he came up the stairs. I could hear the muffle sounds of the TV, it sounded like a crowd so I presumed he was watching a chat show or game show of some sort. I was curious to see what he was watching, but the thought of greeting poor grades kept me at my desk.

Then there was a creak, I lifted my head and frowned before I turned to the door, it was ajar and wide enough for someone to slip in. I stood up from my desk and ventured closer making sure to be careful as I opened the door and looked out, the sounds from the TV travelled up the stairs and the first floor was empty except me, Yami was still downstairs. I shook it off thinking I hadn't shut the door right and it opened by itself, I shut it again—making sure it was shut firmly this time—and returned to my desk to work, however it wasn't right. I felt chilled, but it wasn't like the room had dropped in temperature, it was more like someone just kept shoving ice cubes down my throat and the sudden coldness spread through me like a disease. I felt my body shiver and as I looked to my arms I noticed faint goose bumps appearing over my skin, I couldn't fathom why I was reacting like this, until I saw it again.

A second handprint.

It was fading away again like condensation, but it was pressed on my desk as if someone had been standing by my side and lent on the desk, small and unable to fit against my own handprint if it could produce it. I felt a shaky sigh leave my lips and I pushed myself up from my seat, I don't know what made me think that it was Yami's doing, but I rushed out of my room and down the stairs to the living room. I barely grabbed onto the door frame to stop me moving before I collided into the sofa.

Yami was lying on the sofa casually, lifting his head sluggishly to stare at me while on the TV some man was talking to audience members; we shared a silent gaze until Yami spoke "Something wrong…?"

I looked around the living room, hoping to find another person with him, but the only company he had were the people on the screen. I sighed heavily and shook my head, running a hand through my hair.

"No…I-I…I was thirsty" I quickly lied "Did you want something?"

Yami slowly nodded his head before turning his head back to the TV, watching it once more. I quickly glanced at it before retreating to the kitchen, having to live up to my word of preparing drinks, I was at least somewhat comfortable to be in another person's presence and not left on my own.

After I had poured us out a couple of drinks I returned to the living room, at the sight of me Yami sat up and slipped his legs off the sofa so I could sit next to him, I passed him over the glass so he could take it and sip out of it. As he drank I took the opportunity to look at the TV to see what he was watching, at first I thought it was going to be a talk show where people complained about how they ruined their life, but after a while I realised it was a live séance. The man was going to each person in the audience and asking them if there was a relative beginning with a certain letter or name, and when they said yes he relayed their messages, before moving onto the next person and repeating the process. I never really believed in mediums and such myself, but if it was the only thing decent on TV, I didn't mind watching it and neither did Yami it seemed.

We were both sat quietly on the sofa watching the man talk to an elderly woman, reducing her to tears at the memory of the loved one she had lost, it was almost torturous to see people putting themselves in distressing ways but I was pulled out of it by one word.

"Bullshit".

I was taken aback by the cursing and turned to my brother, the only person who could have said the word, as he casually sipped on his drink again.

Normally I don't get offended by swearing, but coming from Yami…he hardly ever swore. In fact, he never swore. The only indecent words I recall him ever saying were things such as "death" "murder" and so on and so forth, but never outright swearing.

Yami glanced at me when he noticed my stare giving a small "Hm?" That vibrated through his glass.

"I just…I've…never heard you swear before" I explained quietly, retaining the child fear that our parents might catch us swearing.

Yami only stared back at me as he took the glass away, then his eyes turned back to the screen "I don't…like him" He explained, his voice was so deep and heavy, it was almost as if he wanted to kill the man "He's missing…so much…"

I too glanced back to the screen to see the man walk over to another audience member, confused by Yami's explanation "Missing what?" I queried.

Yami didn't answer me, and instead drank down the last gulp of his drink before turning back to me "Have you finished your homework?" He asked "I…want the room to myself…"

"Sure, go ahead".

Yami stood up and walked out of the living room, leaving me and the TV together once again. I gave a sigh and sat back at the sound of our bedroom door, I watched a couple of minutes more of the show before I grew too tired to watch it and searched for something else, but when I couldn't find anything I turned it off and decided to finish my drink first.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remembered was I was walking through a corridor. It was unusually bright and the plain sky blue wallpaper on the walls made me think I was in a hospital of some sort, but it was completely empty and deafly quiet as I couldn't even hear my own footsteps, it was unnerving to be in. As I continued forwards I made out a door at the end of the corridor, it was open and I could hear someone inside, I approached and pushed the door open before peering inside.

Yami was standing in the middle of the room, facing away from me and looking up at several other people, if I could call them people at all. They were pale and all wearing long white gowns, but I could see the wall right through them, as if they were transparent. I only fuelled my confusion as I looked down to the rippling of their gowns; there were no feet or legs, they were just hovering in the air.

I didn't want to believe what I was seeing so I managed a "Yami?" To gain my brother's attention.

Yami looked over his shoulder at me when hearing his name called out, I knew deep down in my mind I wanted to ask a million questions about what was happening, but the only one that came out was "Please…can we go home now?"

Yami didn't say anything and turned back to the pale figures in front of him "No…" He sighed "They need…my help…"

He lifted his hand up so one of the figures bony fragile hands could hold tight to his, turning his skin to a shade of white and turning him see-through, they were taking my brother away. I couldn't move my legs as they led him towards the wall, but I desperately wanted to pull him away from them, bring him back into the living and never let him go again. But my body just refused to listen to my mind, rooting me deep to the spot and torturing me as I watched my brother slip away and disappear through the wall.

I felt my body give a tense twitch when I heard the door open, the noise must've startled me awake as I opened my eyes to be greeted with an orange tint in the living room and the sound of my mother walking in and taking off her shoes, I sat up and tilted my neck from side to side as she walked in.

"Hey Atemu, you okay?" She asked as she watched me flex my arms.

"Yeah I just…fell asleep" I mumbled as I sat up "Guess I was tired…"

"Sorry" She walked over to me and placed a small kiss on my forehead before smiling "How about I'll make some tea, that might wake you up".

"Yeah…sure".

She walked out and I could hear her going to the kitchen "Can you ask Yami if he wants tea too?"

"Sure…"

I stood up from the sofa and gave a small flex to my back before venturing upstairs, I must've slept in an uncomfortable position to find all of my body aching, I felt like an old man as I hobbled up the stairs. I came to our bedroom door but before I knocked on it I frowned, I could hear Yami talking again and my curiosity got the better of me, I opened the door a crack and peered in to look around.

Yami was sat at our desk, reading over a book that rested on the desk; however he was chuckling to himself and talking just like last time, I stood and listened to what he said, making sure he didn't see me at the door.

"I only got a little upset…" Yami soothed softly "It's nothing big. I just…hate ignorance of some people…it irritates me…that's why I walked out. So don't worry about me".

The more I listened to him talk to himself the more I felt a knife drive deeper into my chest, the aching pain I felt as I tried to reason my brother had not gone insane, but my eyes told me another story that quite literally tore my body in half.

I didn't question him about his one sided conversation, mainly because I wanted to erase those memories so I could continue in a blissful and normal life again, but partly because I knew Yami wouldn't tell me otherwise. It was the last day of school for the week the next day, I usually enjoyed the weekends but by then I was beginning to wonder what the days away from school would bring for Yami. I had blamed his lack of desire for the outdoors as his reasons for not talking, after all Yami hardly talked to anyone and didn't have friends nor did he want to go out to places like a normal person, there had to be a limit on a person's body and mind for caging themselves to their houses. I planned to take him out somewhere, it didn't really matter where, just as long as it was away from the house and somewhere he could have some fun. I was planning on telling him as we walked home at the end of the day, but I could feel Yami wasn't right again.

He walked by my side and his eyes watched the pavement underneath us go by, but his eyes looked weak and fragile as if he were about to cry, nothing significant happened during school so I had no clue what made him upset. I walked a few steps ahead of him when we got back home, hand going into my jacket pocket to take out the keys, but as I had them curled in my fingers I heard a click and looked up.

The front door had seemed to unlock itself, and more extraordinary was it gently opened for me, as if someone was on the other side of the door and opened it for us. I stood shocked for a few moments before I turned to Yami, expecting him to share my disbelief and query what had happened, but he simply looked up at me with those weak eyes and gave a small hum.

"What's wrong?" He asked and walked passed me and into our house.

I watched him take off his shoes before climbing up the stairs from the safety of the outside, my mind buzzed with bewilderment as I approached the front door with caution, I tried to come up with a logical explanation to what had happened; the only one being that I hadn't locked it properly when I left for school and it finally swung open.

Yami hid away in our room again—probably to avoid me asking why he hadn't seen the door open—and I turned to the living room to try and clear my thoughts, I felt like I could break again, I just needed to relax and loosen up a little. I had turned on the TV but I wasn't really paying attention to it, it was just to destroy the eerie silence the house had, allowing me to delve into my thoughts in peace. So many strange things had happened at once and with Yami's strange behaviour I was beginning to feel unsafe around my own brother, what was I supposed to do though? Mother would have a break down if I told her I thought Yami was dangerous to be with, and Father would probably never be able to trust anyone again, it would be counterproductive. However I had to find out what was going on, to protect Yami and my family.

I was broken out of my thoughts at the sound of static, blinking to clear my mind I turned to the TV, the screen flickered with black and white dots to show it was having a problem displaying the picture. I gave a sigh and ran a hand through my hair, feeling stupid for jumping at the sound of the TV, however when I opened my eyes I frowned at the TV closely.

For a brief second I could make out the faint outline of someone's arm, quickly moving away from the TV almost as if they had touched it. I knew I wasn't imagining it, I truly did see someone—or something—I stood up and moved closer to the TV, reaching my hand out which was shaking by that point to where the arm had been, expecting to touch some invisible person in front of me. But my hand simply glided through the air until it touched the glass screen of the TV, I stared at the spot for a few moments before I looked around the TV, checking to see if anything was misplaced. As I leaned over the top of the TV I noticed one of the plugs pulled out from behind, dangling lifelessly as it didn't want to leave its socket, I had to give myself a breathless laugh as I reached over and forced it back to its rightful place; how foolish could I have been for thinking that the TV didn't work for any other reason?

I still couldn't explain the arm I saw, I refused to believe it was a trick of the light or my tense mind creating an illusion for me, I had saw someone there and I wasn't going to change my mind about it. I wondered if someone was stalking me, somehow.

Nothing strange happened for a few more hours, mother and father returned home from work like usual and we sat down for dinner again, Yami was his normal silent disposition and I had begun to blame the incidents that happened that day on my wild imagination. After all the month had brought on numerous unexpected emotions, I was bound to feel tired and weary after my adventures, I wouldn't be surprised if my mind started to produce wild fantasies to confuse myself.

As I got ready for bed I locked myself in the bathroom and filled the sink up with cold water, I watched the taps spit out the water until it filled the basin up to the brim, I quickly spun the tops so the taps shut off and dipped my hands into the water. The cold feeling put numbing spikes onto my skin but I cupped them together and scooped out the water, I watched the water trickle over and through my fingers before I splashed it on my face, the sudden hit of the water shocked my face as I cringed away from it but regardless I repeated the action several times. I hoped that maybe the shock of the cold water would return my mind to its normal state, shaking away any more tricks it had left in it.

After the fourth splash to my face I sighed heavily and tried to shake off a few loose drops I could see hanging from my face, as I stared down into the clear and drifting water below me my mind repeated the same line over and over again, it was just in my mind. And it was, everything that had happened was now just a crafty creation of my brain, and I was sticking to it.

My mouth turned upwards to a small smile as I spoke quietly to myself "It's all in my mind…haha…" I gave another sigh to ease my chest back to relaxation before lifting my head up and glancing to the mirror, but at the sight of it I gave a fearful scream.

Standing behind me was a boy no older than eight; his eyes were set on my reflection and a dark red patch that I could only guess was dried blood spread over the left side of his face, a gash was the cause of the disgusting mess that spread from the temple of his forehead and ran straight through his skull, right through his hairline and to the back of his skull. It was horrendous, I had never seen a human with such damage done to them, the closest I got was the movies I watched and I knew deep down they were fake so it didn't scare me. But this was real, and so was the boy behind me. It churned my stomach and a part of me wanted to help him as much as I could, but most of my body refused to be so forgiving, wanting me to push him away and seek consolation.

I locked my gaze with him for a few minutes before my hands gripped the sink and I ducked my head down, forcing my eyes away from the grizzly sight behind me and watching the water again, I could feel my legs shaking underneath my weight and I was sure I'd collapse any second. I don't know why I couldn't move, my mind just toyed with the idea that he wasn't real so long as I couldn't see him, and that I was safe just staring down at the sink filled with water.

I gave another yelp when I heard rapping on the bathroom door "Atemu?" I heard my Father's voice call through "Is everything alright in there? What happened?"

I felt my lips tremble as right outside my door was two safe and protective parents, but to reach them I had to unlock the door and no doubt I was going to stare back at the wounded boy once more, if I was going to do it regardless I'd at least give myself a small burst of fear to get me moving to the door quicker. I swallowed the hard lump that had formed in my throat before lifting my head up, feeling my neck click with each movement as if it were trying to tell me not to do it, but my eyes had set upon the mirror already.

He was gone. I even looked over my shoulder to see if it was another trick and he was just hiding behind me, but as my eyes darted around the bathroom, I was the only living being in the room. With heavier knocking coming from my father I put aside my questions for a brief moment to unlock the door, and open it to see my parents worried expressions.

"What happened Atemu?" My father inquired as my mother put her hands against my face and checked over my body—though for what I didn't know "We heard you shout".

"I…thought I heard something…" I replied vaguely and gently took my mother's hands away from me, sidling out of their grip I made my way back to my room. I didn't want to answer questions, I wanted my own questions answered, and I was sure there was only one person in the house who could tell me what I wanted to hear.

I opened my bedroom door and walked in, Yami was laying on his bed with a book of his rested on his chest as he read through it, ignoring my intrusion altogether but I knew he acknowledged my entrance. I shut the door behind me and stood still for a few moments to make sure my mother wasn't going to follow me in to get answers out of me, when I felt it was safe enough I approached Yami and stared at him, still no response from him. I sat down on his bed by his legs, mimicking what my father would do when he'd have a serious word with one of us; I gave a sigh and rested my arms over my legs as I felt the odd tickling sensation from renegade droplets going over my cheeks.

"Yami…" I began with a quiet and almost breathless voice "There's…something I wanted to ask you".

"Hm?" Came Yami's usual response.

I paused on my words as I thought about what I was going to say; it could end in two very negative ways. Yami could tell me everything I dreaded to hear—and if my suspicions were correct he could hurt me—or he'd call me out and accuse me of being insane, jealous and vindictive. I had to tread around this subject carefully, weaselling out the answer without rising suspicion. I felt guilty before I had even asked him anything.

"W-Well…I was…curious about the things you're into" I lied clasping my hands together in hope Yami didn't spot them shaking, I couldn't cover up the broken tone I used so at least I could attempt with my body language.

Yami moved the book down lightly so he could stare at me and I felt his suspicion already crawl down my back, I just waited for his accusations to start flying around the room "You…wouldn't like them…" He finally answered.

"H-How so?" I continued to probe "Are they…dangerous? Harmful?"

"Hmm…depends…"

Now I was getting suspicious of my own brother; harmful activities? I dreaded to believe I was right "Like…what…?"

"You wouldn't understand" Yami brushed off and lifted the book up again to continue reading.

"Come on" I grabbed his book and forced it down to his body again so we locked eyes "I need to know".

Yami stared dully at me before he tilted his head slightly "No…you don't. There's…something else…" I felt my body stiffen as he reached out to slowly peel each separate finger away from the book, sliding it out of my grasp "You…want to know if I'm crazy…don't you?"

I couldn't answer him, he took away my words with ease and he knew that. He gave a small hum and lifted the book again, finding his spot in the book to continue reading it "I'm healthy brother…don't worry…"

"How can you tell?" I protested, my fingers clasping back together as they shook more out of despair then fear now "With something like that, you wouldn't know what's reality or not!"

"If that were true…no one would know they had flu…or a cold. I'm not insane Atemu…"

"I've seen you talking to people!" I finally spat at him, desperate for one of us to find out the truth "And there's no one there! Who have you been talking to?!"

Yami's eyes lifted to the top of the book to watch me, he then gave a heavy sigh and his eyes closed mournfully "There…are people there Atemu…"

"No! There isn't! They're in your mind!"

"No…they're not…" Yami's eyes opened once again, but slow and heavy like when someone was fighting to stay awake, but his were more daunting like a demon soul possessed him "You just…can't see them…no one can…not even mother…or father…"

"People…we can't see…?" I repeated perplexed. He was hinting to me, Yami never upright told anyone anything if it were important, his tormenting hints I used to joke. They certainly lived up to their name now, my mind just couldn't wrap around this tip though, what was Yami trying to say about people that I couldn't see?

Yami turned a page "My interests…the reason they're harmful…is because sometimes people…don't want to hear them…because it hurts…not physically…just…emotionally" Yami stared at the book but I could tell by the lack of eye movement skimming through the book, he wasn't truly absorbing the words "But…they want their message to be heard…so…I do it for them…"

I was bewildered by Yami's words and gaining a new level of fear I hadn't felt before, a deep unsettling plea to want the answers choked my insides that I found myself unable to speak, Yami's eyes weakened as they nearly shut again but I could make out the near black colour of his eyes in the light.

"They need…my help…"

I audibly gasped at my brothers words as my dream flickered through my head, Yami standing with several pale and transparent figures that floated through the air, beings that weren't meant to be seen by people or to exist anywhere outside the filming industry. I turned my head towards my brother as everything clicked into place, and his hint was all I needed to recognise what Yami was trying to tell me.

"Do you mean…" I dropped my voice lower in the fear that we were being watched and listened to—by our parents or otherwise—"Ghosts…?"

Yami stalled for an answer before he whispered "Yes".

"I don't believe you" I snapped as I abruptly stood up from his bed.

"But…didn't you want to know?" Yami queried.

"That's…! There's no such thing as ghosts!" I turned to him with a frown "They exist in films and such but not real life! Get a grip Yami!"

Yami stared up at me after his scolding before putting his book aside "But…how do you explain the things…?"

"What things?" I questioned before my mind clicked reason back into it again "The things happening to me? Are you behind this? Yami what have you done?"

A disheartened sigh came from Yami as he tugged his cover out from underneath him and he laid down in his bed "Goodnight…" He muttered and turned over.

"Yami! Answer me damnit!"

Yami remained silent which drove me more irritated, but when I realised I couldn't get my brother to talk anymore I too laid down for bed, I turned the light out so we were in darkness and tried to close my eyes to sleep. But all that played through my mind was Yami's confession, the boy in the mirror, and the occasional whisper I heard through my ear of my name.

I predicted the weekend was going to be torture, as I woke up I wished I could go back to school to get away from it all. I didn't speak to Yami at all during the morning, and he didn't speak to me either, we just kept out of each other's ways. Mother and father said their farewells together and promised to be back on time, leaving me to tend to the house and my brother on my own.

Though I had planned to go out that day—and god did I desperately want to leave my house behind—I found myself unable to leave the premises, I simply sat on the sofa staring down at the carpet underneath my feet, the TV was turned off and there was no noise apart from my occasional sigh. Though I knew Yami was upstairs locked away in our room again, and I was most assuredly alone in the living room, I felt like there was someone else watching me. My eyes kept shooting to the seat next to me when I thought I saw something move, but it still remained vacant with only a slight chilly air hovering around it, but my body reacted as if someone was next to me.

All through the day my mind churned over the memory of the boy in the mirror from the previous night, at the time I had been so freaked out that I barely noticed who the boy was, it was someone I hadn't seen for a long time. Yet it was someone I didn't expect to see, nor want to see.

My eyes darted to my side again as I caught another movement from the corner of my eye, I wanted to say it was him but…it couldn't be. I put my foolish desire to ignore aside and stood up, Yami needed my help—in one form or another—and I couldn't leave my brother helpless, I had no idea what I was going to do, but something had to be better than nothing. I turned to the stairs and with a deep suck of breath I climbed the stairs, turning to my bedroom door I approached it and listened carefully to make sure Yami wasn't talking to anyone again, so with little knowledge about my plan I opened the door and ventured in.

Yami was on his bed again, legs laid out over his sheets as he read the same book from last night again, not lifting his head up to see me walk into his room. I couldn't blame him, he most likely felt hurt that I had insulted and scolded him last night; I did feel somewhat guilty for my brash nature towards him the previous night, he had every right to hate me, but I still wanted to know.

"Yami…" I spoke; he still didn't listen to me and turned the page over in his book "Let's say…I believe you. About the…things" Yami's eyes began to move away from the book and up towards me, finally catching his attention "How…can I see them? Is it possible? I want to see them too you know".

Yami gave a sigh and returned to his book mumbling a small "Liar".

"What?"

"You don't mean it" Yami explained as he crossed his ankles over "If you did…you'd sound sincere…"

I bit my lip back and knelt down by the side of his bed, giving another sigh I hung my head as I pressed on "Can you blame me? So much has happened…I don't even know what to say. I want to understand, I want to know but…I don't know what to do. I need your help Yami to understand you, I need you to help me to help you, do you understand that?"

A thick air settled uncomfortable between us and I presumed Yami had ignored me again until his quiet voice spoke "Have…you heard him…?"

I lifted my head to be met with his crimson stare, shaking my head "No. I don't think so".

"So…you don't know who's messaging you…?" I shook my head again "Can't even guess…?"

I kept silent as I didn't want to give away my suspicions just yet, if I happened to be right I didn't want to add fuel to the fire and encourage him on, but on the other hand I didn't want him to be right because of what I feared I might see.

Yami watched me for a few moments before turning back to his book "Maybe…" Was his response.

"Maybe? Why Maybe?" I probed.

"Because…you may say you're ready…but your body might not be…" Yami closed his book and returned his attention to me "Words are meaningless…if your body is not yet able to accept certain things…"

"Well…how will I know when I'm ready?"

"You won't…if your body and mind accepts something as fact…you just live with it…believing it to be the only truth. And if someone opposes it…you don't acknowledge it as truth. That's just how the body works…"

"Can I force…my body to believe it then?" I persisted resting my arms on the edge of his bed "Isn't there something you can do to prove me wrong?"

Yami gave a hum before sitting up on his bed "I guess…the only way is…by stone cold facts…"

"Stone cold facts?" I repeated tilting my head curiously "What do you mean?"

"A body will only react to something it knows is there…" Yami gave a slight smile to his explanation "Just as…talking about being murdered and being murdered…will give the body a different reaction…so…maybe a demonstration will change your mind…and then…maybe your body will allow you to see them".

"Demonstration? Like what…?"

Yami stood up by my side and walked to our desk, sliding out one of the bigger and heavier books lined up against the wall "I've…always wanted to do a séance…care to join?"

I raised my brow at the offer but I crawled along the carpet to where Yami sat himself down and sat opposite him, he placed the book between us and with a small sigh he looked to the door, lightly nodding to it.

"Close the door…if you will…"

I glanced back to the door to see it ajar, stretching over I pushed it shut and made sure I heard the click of the mechanism so it wouldn't open easily, before turning back to Yami; he had placed his hands on the cover and shrugged his shoulders lightly before closing his eyes.

"Place your hands on the book" He instructed as he continued to fidget his body in small strange mannerisms "And close your eyes…like me…"

I was apprehensive at first at what we were trying to accomplish, however I did as my brother ordered and placed my hands on the cold and lumpy cover of the book, I gave one last unsure glance to my brother before closing my eyes and plunging my sight into darkness. With my eyes closed my other senses kicked in to work; I could feel each scratch made into the thick cover of the book due to age, I could hear the quiet and almost fragile breathing of my brother and the lack of smell in the air made me realise how bland the air truly was.

"Have you closed your eyes?" Yami queried.

"Yes Yami" I replied back, feeling my shoulders slump down slightly at the more casual tone in Yami's voice.

"Good…"

"What's…going to happen?" I questioned suspiciously "You're not going to try and get yourself possessed are you?"

Surprisingly, Yami chuckled at my comment and I felt myself ease up again at the light-hearted tone "No. That doesn't happen…well…to me anyway. I just wanted to spook you a little".

Now I frowned at his words. Opening my eyes I noticed Yami was staring back at me, a slight playful smile across his lips as he watched me scowl at him "Very funny Yami" I grumbled, but deep down inside of me I felt relieved he was toying with me, he had never done so to anyone else and I felt special.

"Sorry…" Yami apologised "You don't need to close your eyes…they're your most important witness…but try to keep your hands on the book…okay?" He looked down at the book as his fingers lightly flexed over the skin "And keep very still…"

"Why?"

"Just so…your body doesn't mistake any movement…to be your own body's cause…that happens a lot…your mind tries to find rational answers to what it wants to know…pushing away the real reasons…"

As I opened my mouth to ask him to explain I heard a long and painful creak, a shiver ran down my body as I looked up at Yami for an explanation to why the door opened, he pulled a small smile at me but his eyes however seemed to be watching something behind me.

"Hello…again…" Yami greeted softly.

Curious I looked over my should to see the door open again, wide enough for a body to slip through and into our room, however only me and Yami sat on the bedroom floor. I turned back to Yami to see his eyes trace something going around the room, but I realised that it was something moving pass us and standing at his side as he looked up at the thing—whatever it was.

"Ah…you noticed…" He spoke quietly "Atemu here…he wants to see you…do you think we can make him see? I think so…"

"Yami…who are you talking to?" I queried in a whisper, not wanting to offend whomever it was he was speaking to.

Yami turned his attention back to me and smiled again "Can you…not guess Atemu…?"

"N-No. I can't" I defied, an obvious lie seeping through.

"No one…? No one who you know…?"

"I-I don't know anyone" I continued to protest "I'm just like you, we're both alone".

"No…I'm never alone…"

I gave a startled yelp as I heard scraping and turned to our desk chair; it was struggling but most assuredly pulling itself along the carpet, giving a few creaks and groans when it was forcing itself to move. Panic flooded through my veins as I moved my legs to get up and run away, however Yami grasped my hand, forcing my eyes to lock with his once again.

"Don't move" Yami repeated slowly "You won't get hurt…"

That was easy for Yami to say, he probably knew what was happening and what would happen next, whereas I was petrified about my own safety in our room. Hell, I was terrified for my own sanity. I forced myself to believe that it was Yami's own doing, it was then I realised I was doing exactly what Yami had explain; refusing to believe one truth and replacing it with my own.

The chair stopped moving and when I was greeted with deafly silence I chanced a glance to it, it was motionless once again and was left sat on its own in the middle of the room, allowing my breathing to slow down and return to its normal pace.

My back tensed as the curtains pulled across our window, cutting out the light and replacing it with a darker and murkier trickle of light through the colouring of the fabric, though I was once again put on the edge of fear Yami simply chuckled and turned his head towards the window.

"I don't think we need scarier light" He reassured with a smile "But it was a good idea".

The curtains then slid open revealing the brighter light once again and lighting up our room, in a small desperation my eyes darted down to Yami's hands, hoping to find some sort of string or other trick device that would explain things moving around our room, but his hands were firmly pressed on the book cover just like mine were. I freaked out and though every fibre of my being screamed at me to try and run away, I found my body frozen to the spot I was seated at and I could only do the logical thing my mind could produce, and that was to close my eyes tight. A rather childish action but I couldn't force myself to do anything else, I was completely immobilised.

"Why do you close your eyes?" Yami questioned when he noticed my hiding.

"Because…! Because I know this is fake!" That was a lie. The way my body shook, the sweat running down the back of my neck, I knew this was all too real. It was not that I wanted my truth to be replaced with Yami's, but it was because…I had dealt with it a long time ago, and I didn't think I would be able to cope again.

"Are you…scared?" Yami queried, but I refused to answer him this time "I know…it's frightening to…meet someone you didn't expect to see…especially in this circumstance…but…he wants you to see him. You know who I'm talking about…right?" I managed a small nod from my throbbing head "Then…why don't you want to see him?"

"Because…I just got over it!" I felt myself choking on my breath as painful tears swelled up in between my eyelids "I lost my only friend and it took me so long to deal with that! I-If I could have him back…I'd be too afraid to lose him again…I can't…go through that pain again!"

I could feel the tears finally trickling down my face and dripping off my chin, the small tapping noise it made when it hit the book was the only sound that greeted my ears, the whole room had gone too quiet for my liking and the only thing I could see was the dark insides of my eyes. Even the things that had been moving by unknown means had fallen silent by my words.

"You won't…Atemu" Yami whispered gently to me, I responded with a hiccup and another sob as I tried to pull back my tears "Memory…is such a strong thing. You remember everything about him, right?" I gave a shaky nod to his question "Then…you won't ever lose him Atemu. Because, even though you may doubt my words…he'll always be with you…in your strongest of memories…and as long as you don't forget them…he'll never leave you…just like he never forgot you…"

It was easy for Yami to say, but at that time I could only think negatively of the things he tried to reassure me with. What if I did forget my memories of them? What if I forgot what he sounded like? Or felt like? Or even what he looked like? My mind was whirling with too much emotion to even think straight, I didn't even know if what was going on was real or not, I just wanted it to stop so I could straighten myself out again. I didn't want to see him anymore; I didn't want to feel the pain of losing him again.

Somehow through my whirlwind of a mind I felt someone touch my hand that was still on the book, I would have imagined it to be Yami but the skin was so cold to my touch like they had been laying in snow, and the skin was so…fragile, so loose it couldn't even be described as skin. Yet it was holding my hand in such a gentle and caring manner, wanting me to stop crying most likely.

I managed to stop crying long enough to open my eyes and look down at my hand; the other hand was so dull in colour it looked like it had no blood running through it, no life sustaining it at all. It couldn't be…I reached out to grab the hand, ignoring Yami's instructions at the beginning, and looked up to see the owner of the hand kneeling by my side.

It was Yugi. His face just as pale as the rest of his skin apart from the left side of his head that was completely drenched with thick dried blood, a large open wound in his skull going from the front of his forehead to the back of his head, and his large childlike eyes set on me with the same compassion I had seen many years ago. I didn't know which side of me to react with first; I wanted to scream at the disgusting sight of my friend, I couldn't even possibly imagine what kind of pain and torment Yugi must've gone through that night, but at the same time I just wanted to cry tears of joy. It was my friend, the only friend I had ever made and he was sitting by my side once again, I could only have dreamt of that moment until that very day.

I was numb from the inside out until I managed out a breathless "Y-Yugi…?"

"Atemu…" Came Yugi's reply, that soft and quiet voice I had heard whispering in my ear late at night, there was no doubt about it. Yugi had been the one trying to get my attention for the past few days, the one who Yami had been talking to, the one I tried to pretend who didn't exist.

As I watched him I noticed Yugi's eyes gathered tears that eventually rolled down "I-I'm sorry…" Yugi cried. I was left perplexed as I stared at my crying friend, what did he have to apologise for? There wasn't a single thing Yugi did to upset me or annoy me, he was perfect "I-I'm sorry I didn't make it to your party!"

As Yugi burst into louder tears a ball of sickness hit my stomach. That's what he came back for? To apologise to something he had no control over, for something he didn't know nor could stop, it was something I'd expect from Yugi. Perhaps it was the sense of familiarity of Yugi that brought me into my own second batch of tears.

I reached out to pull Yugi closer to me, uncaring of his grotesque and hideous scar, and hold him close to my body as I wept just like a child over his hair. Yugi persisted crying which only fuelled my own tears, but after a while he let his arms wrap around my body and wept into my chest, spreading his cold touch to every inch of my body.

"Stupid Yugi!" I managed to cry out as I ran my fingers through his hair "It's not your fault! I'm just so sorry I wasn't there for you!"

Yugi managed a nod before his body shook and he whimpered "I was so scared Atemu!" Yugi wailed "I didn't want to die!"

"I know" I tried to soothe finding myself choking on his words "I-It's going to be okay now…"

I had almost forgot Yami was in the room with us, it was only until we both managed to stop crying did I realise Yami had left, I presumed he left me and Yugi to be alone sometime during our crying session. Once we calmed down we managed to laugh it off and…and I was happy. I talked to Yugi which I thought I'd never be able to do, and it was so simple and casual, it was like nothing had ever happened. Though Yugi kept asking what it was like to be older I too had my own questions for him, but I never really asked them, I felt they were too insensitive to ask things about death, so I held them back for the time being. And after that Yugi suggested we should play a game, I hadn't had that much fun in years, I felt so…alive with Yugi once again. And then he disappeared.

It wasn't anything magical or bizarre, he just disappeared. He said he was sleepy so I let him rest against me so I could still be near him, I had only looked away for a second but when I turned back, he was gone.

At first I sat and waited for a while to see if he would come back, but then after that I sat and waited for the stab to the chest to come around for losing him again, but not even that came to me either.

It was strange for me, I felt sad that Yugi had left and I wished that we had more time to spend together, but I didn't feel like complete shit and wanted nothing more with life. I wondered if it was because I made Yugi happy before he left, and that I knew that no matter where he went I would remember him, not for mourning reasons but because he was the best friend I could ever have. And for that, I was grateful to have spent some more time with him, even if it was for a short while.

Once I checked what the time was I actually forced myself to stand and leave our bedroom, though I was still shaking after the experience I forced my body down the stairs to search for Yami, he was in the living room just sitting on the sofa with his eyes staring at the blank screen of the TV. I walked in and silently sat myself down next to him, not a single word passing us for a few minutes.

"Did you have fun…?" Yami queried "With Yugi?"

"Yeah…I did…" I took a small sigh before turning to him "Why…didn't you tell us before?"

"Because…you wouldn't believe me" Yami ran his hands over his legs until he came to his knees, lightly tapping his fingers over them "Just like…you didn't believe me before…how could I have made anyone else believe me? I know…I'm not talented or good at most things…but…when I realised that it…wasn't a normal thing I had…I felt…like I had a reason to keep going on like this. I felt like…it was my duty…to give people the chance to hear their loved ones once more. I know I worry you…when I disappear…but…to stop doing this…I would have to stop at life itself. And if I told you…mother and father…they would have sent me away…to cure me…but I can't be cured…and I would destroy our family…so…how could I have said anything?"

I couldn't argue against his defence, he did have a point. I had shamefully called him a liar for saying the truth, just because I didn't like it, what chance did he have against our parents who were already at their ends with Yami. I gave a sigh and hung my head, hands gripping my clothes as I forced out the words.

"Yami…I'm so sorry" I apologised weakly, making Yami turn his head to me "For everything. For calling you a liar, for not helping you when you needed it…I…I wanted to be the protective brother, someone you could depend on…but…I realised the more I grew up the less I was protecting you and instead trying to change you into a person I wanted to be seen with, I didn't think about you or…what you were doing…I was only thinking of my selfish needs…can you…ever forgive me…?"

I didn't cling on to a lot of hope for Yami's mercy towards me, I had been horrid towards him and I probably hurt him in more ways than I could count, I just wished for another chance. I wished I could step up to the mark, to be that brother I once vowed to be.

"Did you…forgive Yugi?" Yami asked.

I lifted my head and nodded "O-Of course".

"Then…I forgive you…"

I managed to pull a smile but as soon as I did I felt water trickling down my face yet again, I gave a small sob and began crying into my hands this time, trying to hide away my emotional state. Yami however snaked his arm around my shoulder, once I felt his comforting touch I leant closer to him so I could weep into his shoulder again while he silently waited for me to calm down.

After that I understood Yami some more, and I felt that Yami understood where I came from too. Just as I tried to be a better brother towards him, Yami tried to be a regular person overall; he tried talking to some of our classmates and teachers, asked me if we could go out somewhere together, he even tried smiling more often. I knew it had to be hard for him to try and be someone who he wasn't, but in the end he had a lot of fun, and he wanted to do more of it. Still he could see the ghosts that no one else could, and he still disappeared every month, but to me he felt more like a human rather than just an empty shell.

We could never tell our parents, we were too afraid that if we did they'd both send us away and that we'd destroy our family, so we kept that silent—even though there were many times I wished they'd understand the real reasons of Yami's disappearance.

After we graduated from school, me and Yami could never really part and we ended up living together as a result from that, though many people had suspicious ideas about why we lived together it was purely because I had to look after my brother. Pure and simple. I could never really leave Yami on his own, no matter what life threw at us, he needed me just as I needed him and that was that.

However through it all I still felt like it wasn't enough, so on my last breath I hope that Yami will understand this; I'm sorry brother. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you from the start, if I were then…maybe I could have done some things differently that would have helped. But I'm just simply human, I doubt there was a lot of things I could have seen coming nor could I do. But I don't want you to worry now that I leave you, as it turns out death isn't really that scary when you're expecting it, soon, I'll be with Yugi again and I'll be happy.

I love you big brother, and I'm sorry I couldn't see the things you saw until it was too late.


End file.
